TALES FROM THE TOP

Not so long ago, sometime in February I believe, I was reading an issue of Time magazine about Love.

A series of articles all discussing love, chemistry, romance and relationships.

And being the un-romantic sort that I am, I was intrigued and couldn’t put the copy down. Here we have articles taking the romance out of love and making us understand what it is that makes us do what we do when we think we are in love.

Sure, being in-love is great. I used to say this world will be so much better if everyone is in the state of being in-love all the time.

And then I got old and practical, and realize love is nothing like what we see in romantic comedies.

In fact, Time magazine seem to have validated what I think love is.

Jeffrey Kluger found out that for couples to survive, they have to get past the early, thrill stage of love and settle for what he calls “companionate love” where couples spend Sunday mornings reading the papers and having coffee, or playing board games on a rainy weekend etc.

There were other things said about love in the article. About how we sometimes fall in love with someone because they are extremely attractive, but more like they become extremely attractive because we have already fallen for them.

And then this: A researcher at Concordia University in Montreal found that when we are in love we “think someone made you feel good, but really it is your brain that made you feel good.”

I’ve done experiments on my own about this and try as hard as I can to control emotions or natural reactions to certain situations.

I tell myself that sometimes we react because it is what society expects from us, ie. jealousy, anger, annoyance, disappointment, rage.

Friends and colleagues often ask what keeps me so relaxed and zen amidst all the chaos and deadlines around me on a daily basis.

I always say it is all in the mind. We make our brains make us feel good. We can actually control what we feel if we put our minds in it.

I ignore things that I have no control over and I live with it.

Then I focus my energy on matters that I can do something about.

And I just laugh off the rest — and say that’s just how the world works.

Hello all, I’d like to respond to some comments made in previous entries below, however, I am still trying to figure out how to reply to each question or comment made.

It’s quite funny that a long time blogger like me is having trouble navigating this blogsite — but I’m new to this blog platform so forgive me for the delayed response.

I will reply when I kow how too. Meanwhile accept my apologies, and I just want to make sure everyone know that I’m not ignoring you.

I have waited almost forever for this news.

A new study reveals frequent coffee drinking will not lead to early death. In fact, atleast 6 cups a day may even help cut the chances of dying from heart disease.

So coffee doesnt exactly lead to cancer, it won’t increase chances of heart disease and no it will not stunt growth!

The study was led by Esther Lopez-Garcia of Universidad Autonoma de Madrid in Spain, of course.

She followed almost 85 thousand American women from 1980 to 2004 and more than 41 thousand American men from 1986 to 2004.

So I think this study is near accurate.

People who know me, would know about my passion for coffee, any kind of coffee. From your local neighbourhood Kopi or Kopi-C in Singapore ( what’s the C for anyway?). The Barako varietal in the Phillipines, to the smoother tastes of South American beans and more exotic African and Indonesian varieties.

And I drink it in many different ways too, a cappuccino in the morning if I am not too lazy to make me one, to an afternoon espresso to perk me up before work, or a late night instant 3 in 1 in the office just before I hit the airwaves.

Yes I consume coffee morning, day and night and my father has been warning me to cut back.

And cut back I did, I average 8 cups of it in my early 20s and I am now down to 3 cups max.

I used to think since I can drink coffee and still sleep, I would be ok, but let me warn you…the caffeine might not have any effect on your sleeping pattern but it does keep your heart rate up at night and not give you a full night’s rest.

There have been plenty of studies done about coffee drinking and here are just some that I can remember:

Coffee is a great source of antioxidants.

Coffee may lead to miscarriage if a pregnant woman drinks 2 or more cups a day

Coffee may lower a woman’s risk of ovarian cancer and prostate cancer among men.

I recently came across a study published last year suggesting that binge drinking is up significantly among those aged between 18 and 29 in Singapore.

The statistics seem to also suggest that while the number of “frequent” drinking men remains stable, the number of women drinking frequently is significantly up.

For the sake of this post, let me just define Binge drinking as “drinking with the intention of becoming intoxicated.” – Which is really fine by me, what we do with our own liver and bladder is our own business.

But binge drinking associated with social disturbance is another thing altogether

The part of Singapore I call home is generally a safe zone, unless there is a drunk person irresponsibly disturbing the peace.

I don’t drink.

I don’t even let alcohol even touch my lips because I always want to be responsible for my behaviour.

And I don’t like people who make being drunk an excuse for bad behaviour.

Last Sunday, while I was flying above the Pacific enroute to Singapore, an unidentified female next door neighbour unlawfully entered my home. At dawn.

A friend was looking after my place while I was away and was woken up when the female knocked a fan over.

She later climbed out of the window onto the front porch and out of my property while uttering “I’m looking for my purse.”

At 5:20 AM you don’t just break into your neighbour’s place to look for a purse, most of us would wait for daylight and politely knock.

She was obviously drunk and I am obviously angry that to this day, there has been no apology whatsoever. Not a note under my door, or my mail box to say a simple “sorry.”

I am almost tempted to slip a note under her door to ask if she eventually found her purse.

I reported the incident to security and they hinted it may not be the first time this unidentified woman had done something like this.

So I decided to report the incident to police and let them handle it. As I found out, unknowingly trespassing property is still unlawful entry.
 
Friends say I maybe making a big deal out of an isolated incident, but I need to protect my own property and my other neighbours, especially those with kids around.

If the unidentified woman can enter my place while I was overseas, she can very well enter another home and terrify the kids while they sleep.

My question is, how did she get up my gate and into my home?

I’m going to have to speak to my friend about our own security lapse – which led to the intruder coming into my home.